Fires

1 am Monday morning, a fire broke out in the home of Mrs. Sarah McCanna at Third and Main. Discovered by a soldier and Gus Malden, who raised the alarm. The upper floor rooms had light cloth lining the walls instead of plaster and the house went up quickly. The night watchman and deputy sheriffs Conley and Zahl had been at the RR depot waiting to arrest someone on the incoming train, but on hearing the yelling, ran to the fire, firing off the 2 shots that indicated a fire. The wind was blowing across Main (northward) so only the back of the adjoining house received extra damage, about $100 worth. Using only pumps and buckets, the citizenry turned out and saved as much furniture as they could and the house being unable to save the house, worked to save the remaining structures to the west, towards the river. Mrs. McCanna only discovered the fire by seeing its reflection. The fire started in an upstairs room and came down the chimney. Soon she was overcome with smoke and was only able to escape with the help of neighbors. The house was seven years old and one of the oldest ones in town, having been dismantled from its original site in old Milestown and moved here in 1877. It was old fashioned but comfortable and estimated to be worth about $1000, and was mostly covered by insurance. The adjacent building was owned by Chinese laundryman Gee Lee. They emptied their building and doused it with water. The damaged laundry was "bad" but "as Sunday was past the stock of washing on hand was light". A keg of powder was placed in the laundry building to blow it up if needed, but the wind changed and they didn't have to use it. Michael (often referred to as "B. McCanna"), who lived in the second house from his mother's burning building, was carrying valuables from his house, including an incubator and a packaged mixture of dynamite and giant powder which he stacked near the barn. A spark ignited the package, blowing the end out of the incubator, scattering chickens and eggs all over and causing the crowd to fall back. (One separate reference has his house around the corner on 4th, between Main and Pleasant, two houses away from his mother's.)